Stress Proteins: Growth, Development & Disease GRC 2005

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): All organisms are exposed to stressful conditions including environmental stresses such as elevated temperatures and irradiation, physiological stress such as oxidative stress due to metabolic reactions, or pathophysiological stresses such as pharmacological agents, infection and inflammation. These stressful conditions lead to protein misfolding, aggregation, cellular dysfunction and cell death. Recent studies strongly suggest that the ability to sense and respond to stress signals, through the activation of signal transduction pathways, transcription factors and gene products that function in protein homeostasis is critical for normal growth, development and in the protection against diseases that include cancer, cardiovascular disease and protein folding diseases such as Alzheimer's, Huntington's and prion based disease. Studies in model systems have established a strong correlation between longevity and the ability to mount robust stress responses. This Gordon Research Conference on "Stress Proteins in Growth, Development and Disease" will be held July 17-22, 2005. The organizers are Dennis J. Thiele (Duke University Medical Center) and Peter Walter (University of California-San Francisco). The meeting will emphasize vigorous discussions of recent developments in stress sensing, signaling and gene expression, diseases of protein conformation, roles of stress genes in metabolism, growth and development, stress gene modulation of infection, the cell biology of stress and the roles of stress in aging. Eight sessions are planned with additional speaking opportunities reserved for new investigators, trainees and recent breakthroughs. Of more than twenty speakers invited to date, all leaders in their respective field, 30% are women. There will be abundant opportunities for detailed, informal discussions among speakers, postdoctoral fellows and graduate students at poster sessions and additional times during the meeting to enhance interactions and information transmission. This application requests partial support for this Gordon Research Conference.